Beyond Evolution

Val's life was full of questions that had no answers. Where to go, how to feel, what to do -- he walked through most of his days in a blind haze of uncertainty that he dealt with by having a very narrow focus. As long as he kept his blinders on, he was usually alright. One step in front of the other. One task at a time. One major crisis. Val was almost methodical. If he tried to deal with everything at once, well, things had a tendency to become too confusing and complicated for him to solve, and he would retreat back to the basic tenets of his life that he knew best. Since coming to Xaviers, it had only become more and more apparent to him that he knew so very little. He felt constantly like a failure. Not only was he not good enough at taking care of his family, the one job he'd been given in life that mattered the most, but the whole situation seemed to be spiraling out of his control. Everything he'd been certain of, everything he thought he'd understood without needing to question it, had willfully been turned on its head. He had no idea where the events were leading him and he hated it. Admitting it was difficult even for him, but frankly, the more he thought about the way their comfortable little trio had unraveled, the more terrified and overwhelmed he felt, and the more he retreated into his niche in the medlabs. Things like the First Aid course and learning how to use the equipment and taking care of whatever aches or scrapes came his direction, that was something that Val could handle. And so he willfully ignored the bigger issues at hand. It was cowardly of him, even destructive to their family in ways that made him feel vaguely ill to think about, but for some time now, he'd been sticking to that path. One step in front of the other. No time for wondering how badly he must have fucked up as a brother.

( Sooner rather than later, however, he knew he had to deal with some of those unanswered questions. )

[ NARRATIVE ]